Dear Colleagues, 

The discussions on gender parity in the work space, sexual harassment, "me too" and creating more respectful, equitable and enabling environments for women at home and at work are global and ubiquitous today. It's absolutely in keeping with these debates unfolding all around us in practically every profession, institution and cultural context that we should have our own conversation here on Indology. 

Whether it's looking at power imbalances, sexism, misogyny and inequality in the texts we read, or in the classrooms where we read them; between us as students, teachers, colleagues and friends; in the past or in the present; in India or outside, it's an important and necessary exchange to have and it's high time we had it amongst ourselves. Whatever our disagreements, I think it's an opportunity for us all to look within, clean up our act in our disciplinary settings, improve the functioning of our scholarly association and strengthen its rules and procedures, and go forward with -- well, for one thing, more women on board and a more open and frank approach to the problems that affect us all and take up our time and attention away from our beloved intellectual pursuits and pedagogical commitments. 

It's good to see that many of us have jumped in to this difficult space in good faith, believing that in the end we'll be the better for it. Seems to me we've already made some progress relative to when we had an earlier iteration of these and related topics last summer after the World Sanskrit Conference. 

Best wishes, 

Ananya Vajpeyi.